


Chapter 1

by EmKristine445



Series: Pictures || l.s. au [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Football, Love, M/M, Photography, Romance, Soccer, Sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 14:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1554005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmKristine445/pseuds/EmKristine445
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry enjoys taking pictures of Louis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chapter 1

Harry slung the camera bag over his shoulder and began to walk past the quad. He hunched his back in hopes that no one would notice him. The air was chilly, cutting through his windbreaker just enough to make him shiver in the cold October weather.

He saw him sitting on the bench--Louis Tomlinson, star of the football team and the boy that made Harry's heart jump into his throat. Harry was sure that if he opened his mouth to try and speak, his heart would leap out of his mouth and try to escape. He stopped dead in his tracks and observed the boy for a second; the way his eyes crinkled when he genuinely smiled. His eyelashes seemed to touch his cheeks, they were so long. Harry instinctively raised the camera hanging around his neck, up to his eye. He peered into the view finder and snapped a picture...and another...and another.

He lowered the camera and previewed the photographs. Louis' whole face was lit up as Harry took a picture in the middle of his laugh. He came across another picture of the boy with his sleeve pulled over the heel of his hand. He was clenching it in a fist to keep the fabric in place and putting it in front of his mouth to hide his laugh. His fringe swept to the side, yet was long enough to hang right beneath his eyebrows. It was one of the most beautiful pictures of the boy Harry had ever taken. He stood there and smiled at the camera.

As he stood there admiring the photo, he didn't notice a group walk up behind him.

"Hey, Styles!" the leader of the group, Kyle, called out. Kyle was also on the football team, giving him his gigantic ego. He came up behind Harry and patted his back. The curly-haired boy quickly shut off the camera in hopes that they didn't see what he was looking at.

"Did you take a pretty picture?" Kyle mocked and Harry's ears turned bright red.

He tried snatching the camera from Harry's hands, but when he got a grip on it, Harry refused to let go. Harry's face flushed and he held on with a death grip, his knuckles turning white.

"Come on, Styles, just let me see the picture," Kyle said, irritated. Harry still protested and clung to the device. Without warning, Kyle punched Harry in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain, but he didn't stop holding on. Suddenly, Kyle let go of the camera, sending Harry flying backwards from the loss of pressure. He hit his back against the wall of the science building, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to slide to the ground. 

Kyle and his buddies laughed as they surrounded him. When Harry was trying to catch his breath, Kyle unhooked the camera from the neck strap and turned it on. Harry stood up despite the difficulty to breathe and snatched the camera back. He turned it off quickly, once again.

"What the fuck?!" Kyle exclaimed, turning back around to face his opponent.

Harry tried to remind himself to take deep, steady breaths. He still hadn't caught his breath and he was afraid it would turn into an asthma attack.

"What don't you want me to see on there?" Kyle asked, annoyed.

Harry tried to respond, but he couldn't get enough breath to get the words out. He bent at his waist, trying to give his lungs more room. "None...of...your...busi-business...." he sputtered in between loud and ragged breaths. 

"Let me see," Kyle said, shoving Harry. The boy dropped his camera on the ground and the battery flew out. He prayed it would still work, but didn't have enough time to check before getting pushed by Kyle again.

"Let's see-" he started before a person stepped between them. It was Louis. Harry's heart started to race, which definitely wasn't helping his asthma situation. Louis was much smaller than both Kyle and Harry, easily able to fit in between the small gap. He put a hand on Kyle's chest.

"Stop it," he commanded, pushing the bigger boy away from Harry. "We have a game tonight, Kyle...." the small boy thought for a second. "You don't want to be suspended from the team do you?"

Kyle stared at the small, but assertive boy in fear. He shook his head, slightly; just enough for you to notice if you were looking for it.

"Then I suggest you leave right now before you do something you regret."

Kyle looked uncertain for a moment before putting his hands up in fake surrender and backing up. Once he made it to his group, he turned around and they all started walking away, sharing a laugh.

Harry fell to the ground, about to pass out from not being able to breath. 

"Are you okay?" Louis asked, rushing to his side. Louis propped the boy up against the building and looked into his eyes. If Harry's breath hadn't already been gone, he would've lost it. 

"...Inhaler..." he finally gasped out, pointing to his camera bag that was sitting five feet away.

Louis' eyes widened in panic and he rushed towards the case. He dug around for what seemed like an eternity, but was only a few seconds. Harry was still sitting against the wall trying to catch his breath.

Louis came back with the inhaler and handed it to Harry.

The boy took the inhaler from the other's hand and shook it vigorously. Finally, he raised it up to his lips and took deep breaths with it. He felt his lungs expand and instantly felt relief. He sat there for a few more seconds, breathing on his own.

"Thank you," he said, standing up and grabbing his camera. The sides were scraped up. He felt a pressure build up in this throat. He commanded himself not to cry, despite the pain he was in and the fact that his camera was ruined. He put in the battery and silently begged for it to work. Each second it took to start up felt like an hour. The display screen looked fine. He went into his pictures and saw they were all still there. The only thing wrong was the scratches on the side, which irritated Harry a little. His camera didn't have that new look anymore.

He started looking through all of his pictures. He came across the picture of Louis he took a few minutes before. 

"Did your camera break?" Louis asked, sneaking up behind Harry. He turned his camera off quickly, not knowing Louis was still there. He thought he would've walked away. 

"No," he said a little too quickly. He tried to play it off by adding a nervous laugh. "Just a little beat up on the sides." He waved the camera a little and shoved it in the camera bag.

"Thank you, again," Harry said before rushing away to his next class. Louis stared after his curly hair as the boy hurried away.

~

The screams surrounded Harry as the football team came out of the lockerroom to warm up. This was the only part of photography he didn't like--sports. He didn't see the beauty in it; couldn't comprehend what made them so special. But people enjoyed them and his photography class required it. They were doing projects on 'action shots' and everybody else had taken the other options.

Sports, Harry scoffed internally. How was he supposed to make a presentation with sports shots? He knew nothing about sports to begin with. His parents encouraged him to try football in high school, but that wasn't his thing. He had only made one goal in his entire career and that was for the other team. He decided to stick with photography and singing--which he was fine with. He loved photography. It allowed him to capture the beauty in the world, which he believed was fading each day.

The only thing Harry found interesting about football was the amount of people interested in it.

And Louis Tomlinson.

The jersey hung off Louis' body due to the fact that it was way too big in a way that made Harry's heart race. He ran around with a small gait that--

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a ball hitting the side of his head. He found himself on the ground in less than a second and looked to see Louis running towards him and hear Kyle laughing.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Louis asked, helping Harry to his feet. The contact made Harry's heart flutter and Louis' skin tense up.

"'m fine..." Harry mumbled, rubbing the side of his head. Luckily, his camera was still on it's neck strap so he didn't drop it again.

Louis picked up the football and chucked it as hard as he could over at Kyle. He dodged it and laughed again, this time at Louis.

"I'm sorry he's such a dick," Louis apologized. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," Harry responded. He was curious as to why Louis was being so nice to him. He could've just ignored everything that was happening to Harry, but he wasn't.

"You're the guy from the quad this morning, aren't you?" Louis asked, even though it was a stupid question. Of course it was. He remembered everything about the boy. He couldn't get his face out of his mind all day. He was just trying to play it non-chalant.

"Oh, uhm, yeah..." Harry dragged on. He didn't want Louis to remember him for that; a pathetic kid who can't fight and gets emotional over a scraped up camera.

"What's your name?" Louis asked.

"H-Harry Styles," Harry sputtered in reply.

"Harry Styles..." Louis tried the name out. He cocked his head and looked Harry in the eye. "I was wondering if you want to..." he started, but he was cut off.

"Tomlinson!" His coach barked. "Stop flirting and get to warming up!"

Louis rolled his eyes and looked back at the curly-haired boy, whose deep green eyes gave all of his emotions away. He looked dissapointed. Harry could feel the anticipation that was bubbling in his stomach disappear as they were interrupted.

"I have to go," Louis said, "I'll see you around, yeah?" He called as he ran back towards the field and gave him a wave.

"See ya," Harry replied, even though Louis was half-way across the field and couldn't hear him.

He continued to stare at the boy as he ran up to Kyle...and started yelling at him. A huge smile spread across Harry's face. He couldn't believe Louis Tomlinson was actually sticking up for him. He couldn't even believe Louis knew he existed. 

"What the hell was that for?!" Louis cursed at Kyle, running up to him and throwing his arms up in exaggeration. 

"Oh come on, it was funny!" Kyle defended himself. This caused Louis to swell with rage.

"Funny?!" he cried out. "You could have fucking hurt him! What did he ever do to you?! Just because he enjoys taking pictures and, yeah, maybe he's a little nerdy, but that's not a fucking bad thing!"

"Because taking pictures is gay," Kyle stated.

The word made Louis wince, considering he was closeted. Nobody knew about him. He was about ready to lunge at Kyle's throat when he caught Harry out of the corner of his eye, staring at them. He grinned and waved at Louis shyly and Louis' anger immediately disappeared. He waved back to the boy before staring back at Kyle.

"This could've gone a lot worse...think about what you do and say before you do or say it," Louis warned, "That boy is probably one of the sweetest boys you will ever meet. Just because he enjoys doing something that's considered 'gay'--which isn't even an insult--doesn't mean you can beat him up whenever you please."

"You know one day you won't be able to protect him..." Kyle replied, "One day he'll have to fend for himself and you won't be there to save him."

"Louis Tomlinson!" his coach snapped. "If I catch you talking one more time, you'll be benched! Get to warming up!"

Louis rolled his eyes and started jogging for a ball. "Why do you even care about that fag?!" Kyle called, causing Louis to stop dead in his tracks. "Unless you're one too?"

A smirk tugged at the corner of Kyle's mouth as Louis stomped up to him. "Call him--or me--that again and just see what fucking happens," Louis threatened, pushing Kyle back with his finger before walking away to warm up.


End file.
